1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to assembling a linear track in a guided motion system. In particular, the invention relates to a track assembly that provides a quick and easy method of assembly of linear motion guide tracks to standard base extrusions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In manufacturing processes and within manufactured capital goods themselves, precise and repeatable motion is useful and often essential. For example, in manufacturing processes ranging from machining to textiles to electronics, tool heads or other items move back and forth and must do so precisely and repeatedly over enormous numbers of cycles. In other settings, specimens and instrumentation move relative to each other within laboratory analytic devices to collect data on the samples and must do so precisely and repeatedly.
Linear motion guides are used extensively in manufacturing processes and other applications to produce precise reciprocating motion cycles. Linear motion guides are typically supported on extruded support bases. For example, FIG. 1 shows a widely available aluminum extrusion support base 130 manufactured by the Parker Hannifin Corporation, located in Cleveland, Ohio. Similarly, guide tracks and guide wheels are widely available standard articles of manufacture. For example, DualVee® guide wheels and Single Edge guide tracks, both manufactured by Bishop-Wisecarver Corporation, are time-tested and ideal for a wide variety of applications.
Guide wheels attached to support bases and riding on rails are one class of guided motion technology that provides precise and repeatable kinematics. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,661,431 discloses guide wheels and tracks in which guide wheels cooperate with rails such that the guide wheels may move along the rails.
An exemplary guided motion assembly is shown in FIG. 1 and comprises a V-shaped guide track 120 and a DualVee® guide wheel 110 both manufactured by Bishop-Wisecarver Corporation, located in Pittsburg, Calif. The track 120 is coupled with a support base 130 using track clamp 125. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the support base 130 comprises an extrusion.
Known support bases are typically available in a standard sizes and configurations. For example, the support base 130 shown in FIG. 1 may be an extruded aluminum support base, such as that manufactured by Parker Hannifin Corporation.
Also widely used in the guided motion industry are track clamps for coupling the track with the support base. FIG. 1 illustrates a known track clamp 125 for coupling the V-shaped guide track 120 to a standard extrusion 130. Previous attempts of providing track clamps for standard support bases have been complicated, time consuming, difficult to assemble due to the need for fasteners, expensive to assemble, and unreliable due to the use of moving parts, among other shortcomings. Indeed, there are many disadvantages to the current state of the art.
Due to the deficiencies of the prior art, there is a need to provide a reliable, effective and easy-to-assemble guide track system for coupling guide tracks with linear motion support bases.
There is also a need for a method of manufacturing guide tracks that effectively couple with a standard support base without the use of fasteners. Additionally, there is a need to provide methods of assembling guided motion systems without using traditional fasteners.
Likewise, in applications in which the use of fasteners is preferable, there is a need for uncomplicated, easy-to-assemble, reconfigurable, and universally faster systems.
One drawback of the prior art is that linear guide tracks that use fasteners and track clamps are commonly designed for use with a specific base extrusion. For example, many known linear guide tracks are specifically designed to work with the various T-slot extrusions manufactured by Parker Hannifin Corporation. However, such specifically designed track assemblies cannot be used with other extrusion bases or configurations. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a guide track assembly that can be used with any extrusion having a T-slot configuration.
Another drawback to the prior art is that known solutions oftentimes require that the end user cut, drill, or otherwise machine a set of work pieces to initially configure a linear guide system. This is problematic for end users who do not possess a sophisticated machine shop or for those who do not possess the requisite skill to fabricate the required materials.
Furthermore, pre-drilled track is very expensive and requires a user to layout the substrate to which the track is to be assembled in advance. This too is problematic because the user must be especially precise and must have detailed plans well in advance. Moreover, once one particular setup is configured, it cannot be reconfigured without taking apart the entire system and re-drilling.
Another drawback to current linear motion systems is the width profile of a track assembly. For example, known linear motion guides are bulky.
Another significant drawback of the known art is that drilling track and attaching it to a substrate with a plurality of individual fasteners oftentimes results in undulations and imperfections in the linear track. These undulations can negatively affect the entire system.
Likewise, it is difficult to maintain parallelism of the tracks when fastening a guide track to a support base. Oftentimes, parallelism in the tracks is of the utmost importance. For example, a track that deviates even slightly from parallel can negatively affect the performance of an entire linear motion system.
Some other prior art solutions include simply placing a track directly into a T-slot of a base support extrusion. These known solutions oftentimes result in an unacceptably imprecise fit. For example, commercially available base support extrusions will vary in T-slot width for any given mill run. Therefore, a track having a uniform width will either fit too tightly or too loosely within the extrusion's T-slot. Therefore, there is a need to provide a track support extrusion that can reliably accommodate a standard-sized track despite the occasion of small size variances.